Improvement in car-axle boxes



r-TE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES ECOLES, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF HIS RIGHT TO `SAMUEL ECOLES, JR., OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN CAR-AXLE BOXES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 169,792, dated November 9, 1875 application tiled l August 10, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J AMES ECOLES, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Railroad Cars, of which the following is a specification:

The object of my invention is to so apply the axle-boxes to the frame of a railroad-car that the lateral movement of the said frame, independently ofthe wheels and axles, shall not be accompanied with the 'usual disagreeable shocks, and so that the journals of the axles and their bearings in the boxes shall not be so liable to rapid deterioration as in ordinary cars. This object I attain in the manner which I will now proceed to describe, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure l is a side view of a street-car with my improvements; Fig. 2, a plan view, and Fig'. 3 a transverse section drawn to an enlarged scale.

The frame of the car consists of the longitudinal sills A and A', connected together by the cross-pieces B and B. Below each of the sills A and Al is arranged an angle-iron bar, D, through openings in which pass the lower ends of rods E, the bar being steadied longitudinally by braces F, and springs c being interposed between the bar and frame of the car, soas to allow the said bar to have a vertical movement.

Each axle-box Gr is free from direct contact with the frame, and has in the top` a recess, x, adapted to the upper end of the yoke H, the two legs of which pass one down each side of the box and through the angle-iron, beneath which the end of each leg is furnished with a nut or key and rounded washer, so that the yoke shall be at liberty to vi-V brate freely in a lateral direction only.

In ordinary cars axle-boxes are so guided by hangers on the frame that they cannot 'move laterally, but the journals are permitted to have such end play in the boxes that the frame of the car and its superincumbent body may move laterally independently of the wheels and axles when the car traverses curves in the track. This movement of the car, under such circumstances, is more or less abrupt and accompanied with shocks, due to the collar of the axle-journals coming into sudden and violent contact with the bearings in the boxes. i

Another objection to the ordinary mode of applying axle-boxes to cars is the excessive wear of the journals and bearings, due to the combined rotating and endwise movement of the journals.

In order to overcome these objections I so adapt' the journals of the axles to the bearings in the boxes that they can have no endp'lay therein, and so that the axles and boxes both vibrate simultaneously, and I rely entirely upon this lateral vibration of the boxes forallowing the frame to move laterally independently of the axles and wheels. The weight of the frame and body of the car and the load has a tendency to maintain the yokes H of the axle-boxes in a vertical position, and this tendency will not be neutralized as long as the car traverses a perfectly straight track; but when the car reaches a curve or uneven portion of the track, there will be' a tendency of the frame to move laterally-say in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 3-when the yoke of the box will assume an inclined position;

but the yoke cannot be moved from a vertical vto an inclined position without slightly raising the frame and body of the car, so that there is always a tendency on the part of the frame to restore the yoke and box to their normal or vertical position but this tendency is not of an abrupt character, but so easy as to obviate the objectionable shocks, which, in

ordinary cars, are, as before remarked, due

to the sudden contact of the axles with the ends of the bearings in the boxes. In other words, the lateral play ofthe car, independently ofthe axles,is not resisted with the usu al abruptness, which results in disagreeable shocks, but gently by the weight of the car, which really acts as a cushion. All undue lateral movements of the frame independently of the axles are, however, prevented by lugs mm on each side of the axle-box, the yoke coming in contact with one or other pair of lugs when the lateral movement of the frame is excessive, as shown in Fig. 3.

These lugs may, if desired, be faced with india-rubber or other elastic material.

It will be readilynnderstood that the boxes In testimony whereof I have signed my mnytbe-oo-nneoted to the'bam D.-by'1inksin nameftothisspeoioation'ini-)the presence of place *of f thefyokes. two-subscribing-Witnesses.

1 claim as my invention- 1. The combination of the bar D,-a,nd the JAMES ECCLES.

springs interposed between the bar and the frame, with the ax1e-boxes G andthe yoke H. Witnesses:

2.! Theioombnation yof the axle-box dnd its HUBERT `HOWSON, lugs m with the yoke H. HARRY SMITH. 

